Culture, Biology and Male-to-Male Sex in Asia and the Pacific

Culture, Biology and Male-to-Male
Sex in Asia and the Pacific

Is male-to-male sex ‘normal’ ?
• Social disapproval
makes the scientific
study of male-to-male
sex extremely difficult.
• Are we dealing with an
unusual activity, only
found in humans, and
only peculiar types of
individuals?
• Or, is male-to-male
sex a fundamental
part, not just of
human sexuality, but
of animal sexuality as
a whole?

Homosex common among at least 470 species
from fish and birds to mammals

Proportion of sexual behaviour by species
SPECIES
Rose breasted
cockatoos (both
sexes)
Silver gulls
(females)
Black headed gulls
(both sexes)
Japanese macaques
(both sexes)
Bonobo
chimpanzees (both
sexes)
Homo sapiens
(males)
PERCENT
HOMOSEXUAL
Sources: Bruce Bagamihl 2000 (p.35), Cáceres, et al. 2006
PERCENT
BISEXUAL
PERCENT
HETERO-
SEXUAL
44 11 44
10 11 79
22 15 63
9 56 35
0 100 0
3 13 84

How many males have sex with
Source: Cáceres et al 2006
other males?
• From a review of
Worldwide-
67 national or
representative
about half of those
samples
whoever
had male-to
male sex had been
5-20% ever
engaging in male-to
East Asia- 3-5%
male sex within past
S & SE Asia 6-12%
six months to one year
(and PNG, Fiji)
BUT in South Asia,
this is 7-8%

But- What is a male?
• There is enormous
natural variation in
gender expression
• Some suggestive
evidence that
prenatal biology
involved
• Recognized in
traditional cultures
• Tabooed by
organized religions
• Sexuality linked,
but not correlated

IDENTITIES AND PRACTICES
TERMS (HOMO,HETERO)(
NOT USEFUL-NOT DISCREET
CATEGORIES
Self-applied terms only have about 60-80%
congruance with practices, e.g. men who call
themselves homosexual have sex with women, and
vice versa
This seems to be largely due to socio-cultural factors
such as stigmatization or peer pressure, that influence
sexual expression
• Most important for HIV programming is group identity
at local level.
• TERMS THAT DEFINE CULTURE-BOUND
FRAMEWORKS COMMUNICATE LOCALLY
e.g. kothi, fa’a’fafine, fafine, gay, ladyboy, apone, pelopa

RELATIONSHIPS AND CULTURE
• Patterned by culture, history, economics
• Patterns shift through time and place
• Worldwide-most common patterns based on gender
differentiation, age separation, socio-economic status
• Gender definitions usually linked to practice as in :
bottom=female, top=male; but often simply rhetorical
• For HIV programming, first priority=male sex workers

Challenges to Successful HIV
Prevention
• Creating safe environments
• Understanding sexuality
• Appreciating diversity and
flexibility in sexuality
• Defeating ‘tribalism’, us vs.
them
• Protecting the women in
MSM’s s lives
• Building skills, knowledge,
organizational capacity
• Creating a constituency to
advocate for both treatment
and prevention